ANTIPODAL SOUTHERN CONTINENT. 445 



until the year 1459, when Fra Maiiro so denominates it 

 on his Mappa Mundi. Fra Mauro's two Giavas, (Jiava 

 niaggiore and CHava nienore, lie to the east of Asia, and the 

 former seems to he identical with Cimpiine,u, or .Tajian. 



In Polo's and in Varthema's times Java was regarded as 

 a)i island of much greater extent than it really is. Marco 

 Polo was informed that it was the largest island in the 

 world, and gives its circnmference as five thousand miles 

 {Le Lirre de Marc Pol, ed. Panthier, cap. clxii.), and that 

 of Javva la meneur as two thousand. The com])anions of 

 Varthema wished him to go and see " the largest island in 

 the world," and having called at Bornei tiiey took their way 

 to the island called Giava. (Varthema, ed. Hakl. Soc, pp. 

 247-8.) In later times Java Minor wns regarded as an 

 island distinct both from Java and Sumatra. Thus Pigafetta 

 (1522) says Ihat at half a league from Java Major is the 

 island of Bali, called also Java Minor. Another writer, 

 Manoel (rodinho de Heredia, who cites Polo, Varthema, 

 Battista Agnese (1550.0 and Petrus Plaucius (1598), places 

 Java Minor in a new position altogether. Having described 

 Sumatra, and Java under the name of Java Maior, and pre- 

 viously to describing Borneo, he mentions a Java Menor, 

 and under that name describes the Javva la meneur of Polo. 

 But his Java Menor is not in tiie position of Polo's Javva la 

 meneur, but is in the Mar Austral in 24° S. lat. Its ])eople 

 possess many spices never seen in Europe, and are so 

 ferocious that the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands 

 liold no intercourse with them. {Informacao verdadeira da 

 aurea Chersoneso, Lisboa, 1807, p. 116.) The 163rd chapter 

 of the Book of Marco Polo commences with the words 

 " Quant on se part de Javva et on nage vii. c. niilles contre 

 midi adonc treuve Ten deux isles, I'une grant, et I'autre 

 meneur. L'une a nom Sandur et I'autre Oondur." Com- 

 mentators until recently were unable to identify these islands, 

 as well as the countries of Locach and Maliur and the island 

 of Pontain and other places, the position of which depended 

 on the direction to be taken from Java to Sandur and 

 Condur. At last Marsden solved the difficulty by ])ointing 

 out that if " Cyamba " were read in place of "Javva" and 

 the southerly course for 700 miles were followed from 

 Cyamba, Condur or Pulo Condor would fall into its right 

 position, Sandur would correspond Avith the Two Brothers, 

 Locach with Lo-Kok, an ancient name for the lower jmrt of 

 the modern Siara, Pontain with Bintang, and Maliur with 



